Lumens to Watts Converter
800 lumens is about 9 W of LED, 13 W of CFL, 50 W of halogen or 60 W of incandescent.
Convert lumens and watts
Type in either box; the other one follows.
Typical LED bulbs: 80–140 lm/W. For your own bulb, divide the lumens on its box by its watts.
Incandescent bulbs follow the FTC chart of traditional bulbs: 450 lm at 40 W, 800 lm at 60 W, 1,100 lm at 75 W, 1,600 lm at 100 W and 2,600 lm at 150 W.
As bright as a 60 W incandescent bulb (FTC chart: 800 lm) · EU equivalence table: 60 W
The same 800 lm from each kind of bulb
| Bulb | lm/W | Watts | kWh a year | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LED | 90 | 8.9 | 9.7 | 85% |
| CFL | 60 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 78% |
| Halogen | 16 | 50 | 54.8 | 17% |
| Incandescent | 13.3 | 60 | 65.7 | — |
kWh a year at 3 hours a day, the basis of the US Lighting Facts label; the EU label’s kWh per 1,000 hours is the same number as the watts. The saving is against the incandescent bulb.
“More”: at the lm/W used for that row, the bulb needs more power than a traditional incandescent bulb, whose large sizes reach 17.3 lm/W on the FTC chart. For your own bulb, choose its kind above and type its lm/W.
F 90 lm/W: class F (85–110 lm/W)
Which bulb replaces my old one?
- EU table: at least 806 lm from an LED, 741 lm from a CFL or 702 lm from a halogen bulb
- FTC chart: 800 lm
- An LED at 90 lm/W gives 806 lm from 9 W, and 800 lm from 8.9 W
| Old bulb | EU: LED and others | EU: CFL | EU: halogen | FTC chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 W | 136 | 125 | 119 | — |
| 25 W | 249 | 229 | 217 | — |
| 40 W | 470 | 432 | 410 | 450 |
| 60 W | 806 | 741 | 702 | 800 |
| 75 W | 1,055 | 970 | 920 | 1,100 |
| 100 W | 1,521 | 1,398 | 1,326 | 1,600 |
| 150 W | 2,452 | 2,253 | 2,137 | 2,600 |
| 200 W | 3,452 | 3,172 | 3,009 | — |
EU: Regulation (EC) No 244/2009, Table 6 (now repealed; values between rows by linear interpolation). US: the FTC’s chart of traditional incandescent bulbs.
Spotlights and reflector lamps
The lumens an LED, CFL or halogen spot needed to replace a halogen reflector lamp under the EU table for directional lamps (Regulation (EU) No 1194/2012), in a 90° cone.
Listed: 20, 35 and 50 W
The share of its light the LED still gives at the end of its rated life (datasheet).
- Halogen: at least 540 lm in a 90° cone
- CFL: at least 584 lm (× 1.08)
- LED: at least 594 lm (× 1.1: 1 + 0.5 × (1 − 0.8), beam of 20° or wider), about 6.6 W at 90 lm/W
About the Lumens to Watts Converter
Watts measure the power a bulb draws; lumens measure the light it gives. What links them is the bulb’s luminous efficacy in lumens per watt (lm/W), and it varies widely between technologies: a traditional incandescent bulb gives about 10–17 lm/W, a halogen bulb 12–20, a CFL 50–70 and an LED 80–140 or more. So 800 lumens takes about 9 W from an LED but 60 W from an old incandescent bulb.
Type lumens or watts, pick the kind of bulb (or type your own bulb’s lm/W) and the converter gives the other figure, the watts the same light takes from every other kind of bulb, the energy used, and the class on the EU energy label. Which bulb replaces my old one? gives the lumens to look for — from the EU equivalence table and the US FTC chart — for an incandescent bulb of 15 to 200 W, and the spotlight table covers MR16, PAR16, R63 and the other halogen reflector lamps.
How to use it
- Pick the kind of bulb: LED, CFL, Halogen, Incandescent or Other. LED, CFL and halogen start from a typical efficacy; for your own bulb, type its lm/W (the lumens on the box ÷ the watts).
- Type the lumens to get the watts, or the watts to get the lumens. Incandescent bulbs follow the FTC chart of what traditional bulbs give: 450 lm at 40 W, 800 lm at 60 W, 1,600 lm at 100 W.
- Read the watts the same light takes from each kind of bulb, the kWh it uses in a year at 3 hours a day, the saving against an incandescent bulb and the EU energy class.
- Under Which bulb replaces my old one?, type the old bulb’s watts to see the lumens its replacement needs. For a spotlight, choose its type (MR16, PAR16, R63 …) under Spotlights and reflector lamps.
- Copy the result, copy a link to it, or download the equivalence tables as CSV.
Examples
800 lm, LED at 90 lm/W
8.9 W — the light of a 60 W incandescent bulb (FTC chart: 800 lm)
60 W, incandescent
About 800 lm: 8.9 W of LED, 13.3 W of CFL or 50 W of halogen
Old bulb: 100 W
EU table: at least 1,521 lm (LED), 1,398 lm (CFL), 1,326 lm (halogen) · FTC chart: 1,600 lm
MR16 GU 5.3, 50 W
540 lm in a 90° cone; an LED that keeps 80% of its light, with a 36° beam: 594 lm
806 lm from 7.2 W, mains bulb
111.9 lm/W — class E
15 W, CFL at 60 lm/W
900 lm
Common uses
- Choosing an LED with the same light as the old incandescent, halogen or CFL bulb it replaces.
- Checking a “60 W equivalent” claim against the lumens printed on the box.
- Comparing the power and yearly energy of bulbs that give the same light.
- Finding the lumens an LED spotlight needs to replace an MR16, PAR16 or R63 halogen lamp.
- Working out a bulb’s lm/W and its EU energy class from the lumens and watts on its packaging.
Watts measure power, lumens measure light
In the CIE’s International Lighting Vocabulary, luminous flux (in lumens) is radiant flux evaluated by its effect on the CIE standard photometric observer — light weighted by the sensitivity of the human eye — and the luminous efficacy of a light source is the emitted luminous flux divided by the power it consumes, in lm/W. So:
- watts = lumens ÷ efficacy — 800 lm ÷ 90 lm/W = 8.9 W
- lumens = watts × efficacy — 15 W × 60 lm/W = 900 lm
The lumen is defined from yellow-green light of 540 THz, of which 1/683 W gives 1 lm, so no light source can pass about 683 lm/W. A watt figure such as “= 60 W” on an LED box is a brightness comparison, not the power it draws.
Typical efficacy of each kind of bulb
The European Commission gives typical efficacies of about 10 lm/W for standard incandescent bulbs, 12–20 lm/W for halogen, 50–70 lm/W for CFLs and 80–140 lm/W or more for LEDs; the US FTC’s example is an LED that gives the 800 lumens of a 60 W bulb from about 9 W. This converter starts from 90 lm/W for LED, 60 for CFL and 16 for halogen; incandescent bulbs follow the FTC chart, whose efficacy rises from 11.3 lm/W at 40 W to 17.3 lm/W at 150 W.
Your own bulb’s figure is better than any typical one. In the EU the packaging must show the useful luminous flux in a font at least twice as large as the power, and say whether it is the flux in a sphere (360°), a 120° cone or a 90° cone (Regulation (EU) 2019/2020, Annex II, point 3(b)). In the US the Lighting Facts label gives the brightness in lumens and the energy used in watts, with a yearly cost worked out for 3 hours a day (16 CFR 305.23).
The EU and US equivalence tables
Commission Regulation (EC) No 244/2009 set the light a lamp needed before its packaging could claim to equal an incandescent bulb (Annex II, Table 6): 136, 249, 470, 806, 1,055, 1,521, 2,452 and 3,452 lm for 15, 25, 40, 60, 75, 100, 150 and 200 W from an LED (and any lamp other than a CFL or halogen), with lower figures for CFLs (741 lm for 60 W) and halogen lamps (702 lm for 60 W). Values in between are worked out by linear interpolation and the claimed power is rounded to 1 W. Regulation (EU) 2019/2020, which replaced it, has no equivalence table, so the table now serves as a reference.
In the US the FTC’s light-bulb guide gives the lumens of traditional incandescent bulbs as 450, 800, 1,100, 1,600 and 2,600 lm for 40, 60, 75, 100 and 150 W, and ENERGY STAR lists the same figures as the minimum lumens of a replacement.
Spotlights and reflector lamps
For directional lamps the EU table (Regulation (EU) No 1194/2012, Annex III, Table 6) gave a reference flux in a 90° cone for each halogen type and power — for example 540 lm for a 50 W MR16 GU 5.3, 300 lm for a 50 W PAR16, 300 lm for a 60 W R63 and 760 lm for a 100 W PAR38. A halogen replacement needed that flux; a CFL 1.08 times it; an LED (1 + 0.5 × (1 − LLMF)) times it, where LLMF is the share of its light it still gives at the end of its rated life, and 0.9, 0.85 or 0.8 times that for beams narrower than 20°, 15° or 10° (Tables 7 and 8). An LED keeping 80% of its light with a 36° beam therefore needed 1.1 × the reference: 594 lm for the 50 W MR16.
The EU energy label
The EU energy class of a light source comes from its total mains efficacy: useful flux ÷ on-mode power × a factor of 1.000 for mains bulbs, 0.926 for low-voltage bulbs, 1.176 for mains spotlights and 1.089 for low-voltage spotlights. Class A starts at 210 lm/W, then B at 185, C at 160, D at 135, E at 110 and F at 85; below 85 lm/W is G (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2015, Annex II). The label also gives the energy use in kWh per 1,000 hours, which equals the power in watts.
Sources
- CIE International Lighting Vocabulary: luminous flux and luminous efficacy of a light source
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 244/2009, Annex II, Table 6 (non-directional lamps)
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 1194/2012, Annex III, Tables 6–8 (directional lamps)
- Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2020 (ecodesign of light sources) and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2015 (energy label)
- European Commission: light sources
- FTC: Shopping for light bulbs and 16 CFR 305.23, labeling for lighting products
- ENERGY STAR: Learn about brightness
Limitations
- Typical efficacies are averages: two LED bulbs with the same lumens can draw quite different watts. Use the lumens and watts printed on your own bulb for exact figures.
- Incandescent figures follow the FTC chart of traditional US bulbs; outside its 40–150 W the converter uses the efficacy of the nearest end of the chart and says so.
- The EU equivalence tables come from regulations that have been repealed: they are a reference, not a current legal requirement.
- Lumens are the total light. The colour temperature, beam angle and colour rendering index matter too when choosing a bulb, and EU packaging prints them.
- The energy class shown comes from the lumens and watts you enter; the official class uses the useful flux and on-mode power the maker declares.
- This converter does not work out light levels (lux) in a room.
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Frequently asked questions
How many watts is 800 lumens?
About 8.9 W from an LED at 90 lm/W, 13.3 W from a CFL, 50 W from a halogen bulb and 60 W from a traditional incandescent bulb. The FTC’s example is an LED that gives 800 lumens from about 9 W.
How many lumens does a 60 W bulb give?
A traditional 60 W incandescent bulb gives about 800 lumens (FTC). To replace it, look for a bulb of at least 800 lumens; the EU’s former equivalence table asked 806 lm of an LED, 741 lm of a CFL and 702 lm of a halogen bulb sold as “60 W”.
What LED replaces a 100 W bulb?
One with about 1,600 lumens (FTC and ENERGY STAR), or at least 1,521 lm under the EU table. At a typical 90 lm/W that is an LED of about 17–18 W; a more efficient LED needs less.
Why does an LED box say “60 W” when the bulb uses 9 W?
The watt figure is the incandescent bulb it matches in brightness, not its own power. The power it draws is printed too, and in the EU the lumens must be printed at least twice as large as the watts.
How do I convert lumens to watts?
Divide the lumens by the bulb’s efficacy: 1,000 lm ÷ 100 lm/W = 10 W. For watts to lumens, multiply: 10 W × 100 lm/W = 1,000 lm. A bulb’s own efficacy is its lumens ÷ its watts, both printed on the box.
How many lumens should an LED spot have to replace a 50 W halogen spot?
It depends on the type. The EU spotlight table gave 540 lm in a 90° cone for a 50 W MR16 GU 5.3 and 300 lm for a 50 W PAR16. An LED had to give more to allow for its light fading: for one that keeps 80% of its light and has a beam of 20° or wider, 1.1 × — 594 lm and 330 lm.
What does lm/W tell me?
How much light a bulb gives for each watt it draws. Higher is more efficient: on the EU energy label a mains bulb is class A from 210 lm/W and class G below 85 lm/W.